Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Leeedy,
Thanks, for signing the books at the PAC judging.

Also thanks for confirming no snaps on the back of the 55 Caribbeans.
I have been looking at pictures and I don't see any snaps on any of the pictures so far.

I also learned that the the snap screws should not be philip head, see the picture of an original Caribbean.

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Quote:

No thanks necessary. It was my distinct pleasure. Thank you! Hope you got to come to the Packard Dream Car/Concept Car Seminar too. There was a lot of extended detailed info that didn't make it into the book. AND those who were there got to view and hold the last Packard prototype wire wheel center hub cap (intended for 1957)! You can see how similar the hexagon on it was to that on the Predictor.

Of course I'm sure you mean "no snaps on the rear seat backrest" on 1955 Caribbeans.

And the tops (and possibly screws) are not original in the pics posted (at least not in the ones with the lowered top with no boot or the black top). Having had part ownership in a trim shop at one time, I can tell you, once an old convertible top is changed, it's 50/50 whether all the factory original screws, etc. get put back into original positions. But one thing's for sure: original tops for a Rose Quartz Caribbean would never have been black on the inside (as shown in pics 3,4,5). Should have been bright pink on the inner facings of the top. Nor would they ever have black pads as shown on the lowered top (should be pink too for this car). So that's just not an original top on the car in the photo. Which opens any fastener up to question. Also original tops for 1955 were in Orlon and it appears the top in the pics is vinyl in diamond pinpoint grain. Close, but no cigar.

Now, when it comes to Caribbeans... certainly nothing could be prettier than the 1955 Rose Quartz theme. And yes, for 1955 the color of the center stripe extended down into the top well. So the photos showing pink in the top well are accurate. But the scale model running around in recent years with the pink boot is not.

Thanks for the pics too. Of course the best possible example of a 1955 Caribbean to follow is Stanley Zimmerman's Howard Hughes/Jean Peters car. It is about as original and low miles as they come. This gorgeous unmolested Caribbean presently lives in the Automotive Driving Museum in El Segundo, California. And while the car is presently in a glass enclosure... uh... I do have... connections!

Gentlemen- Sometimes the solution to a perplexing problem turns out to be so simple that you kick yourself for not recognizing it earlier.
I posted a while ago that I was experiencing problems with the top refusing to lower evenly. The driver side would retract sufficiently into the well, but the passenger side would not.
Removing the cylinders from the top mechanism allowed the top to be lowered sufficiently to install the boot which seemed to eliminate an issue of there being some restriction.
I finally bit the bullet and removed the rear seat and the cover panels and with the help of a friend discovered the problem.
The top cylinders have fittings for the hoses from the pump located on opposite sides of the cylinder. I had installed the cylinders with the bottom fitting facing forward and the top fitting facing the rear.
WHen the top was lowered the top fitting on the passenger side made contact with the wheel well preventing it from retracting further..
The contact was easily observed with the seat and panel removed but was not obvious otherwise.
The solution was equally simple....pull the pin holding the bottom of the cylinder and rotate 180 degrees.
Works fine now and aside from having to reinstall the interior panel and the seats tomorrow I should be able to grab some rays....if the rain and cold ever ends.
Things like this make me feel like an idiot. Maybe my experience will help someone else save some gray hair.
RJR

Thank you for posting the solution to the problem.

If you have pictures of before and after that would help explain more.
Some of these cars are in real bad shape when we acquire them. So if you don't take pictures of everything before you start disassembling, or worse it was already disassembled when it is acquired, these can be daunting to make them right.